Hyde5: How Pat Riley's dad motivated Dolphins

December 16, 2013|By Dave Hyde

Ten thoughts on the Dolphins' 24-20 win against New England:

1. Dolphins players were given a quote from Pat Riley in their locker before Sunday’s game. But it wasn’t really Pat Riley’s quote. The Heat president attributed it to his father, Lee Riley, as told in Riley's book, “The Winner Within.”

“Every now and then, somewhere, some place, sometimes, you are going to have to plant your feet and stand firm and make a point about what you are and what you believe in. When that time comes, Pat, you simply have to do it.”

Riley, by the way, used the quote to motivated players himself. Before Game 2 of the 1987 NBA Finals between Boston and his Lakers, he used it before a win, As Magic Johnson tells it, though, the quote went, “Somewhere, sometime, someplace, you’re going to have to plant your feet, make a stand and kick some ass.

Riley also told it to his New York Knicks before Game 6 of the 1994 Finals series against Houston. The Knicks lost that game on Father’s Day. The New York TIme wrote:

“Pat Riley has told that story because it was the last time he saw his father alive. Lee Riley was apparently that kind of man, an all-or-nothing man, who rode his sons to achieve, taunted them, if need be.”

2. The Dolphins’ playoff chances increased to 77 percent, according to playoffstatus.com. Baltimore, which plays tonight at Detroit, has an 11 percent chance. The website calculates schedules and performances in coming up with a percent. Of course, it can all come crashing down with a loss in Buffalo. Ask Cincinnati. After the Dolphins won Sunday to give the Bengals a chance to move ahead of New England in playoff seeding, the Bengals’ official Twitter account tweeted out, “We see you Dolphins.” The Bengals then went and lost to Pittsburgh on Sunday night.

3. The Dolphins gave up three sacks in the first half, and it looked like a repeat of the bad, old line that was on a record-setting pace of sacks through the first half of the season. That’s where the value of experience came. Dolphins left tackle Bryant McKinnie said the ever-resourceful Patriots noticed a small crack in set-up of guard Sam Brenner, who was “jump-setting,” or moving off the line quickly to neutralize defensive tackle Joe Vellano.

“They were running stunts so we had to address what they were doing and correct it,’’ McKinnie said.

The stunt was they were having the lineman opposite McKinnie, usually Chandler Jones, move to his left directly into Brenner;s, “earhole,’’ as McKinnnie said. As Brenner was taking a small step forward and McKinnie a small step back, that would create a fracture in the Dolphins line that a looping tackle or linebacker would exploit.

“I talked with Brenner to go vertical, to take a small step back to stay even with me,’’ McKinnie said. “I’d seen that done before, and that’s the way to neutralize it.”

4. Did the 85-degree weather get to the Patriots? Maybe. “How do you guys live down here?” Patriots lineman Logan Mankins said after the game to a couple of Florida reporters.

While the rest of the country played in the cold, the home-field advantage might have helped the Dolphins. McKinnie joked how Patriots defensive end Chandler Jones was so gassed he feigned injury to stop the game and buy some time. But let’s not overdo that. Both teams were tired. And the Dolphins lost cornerback Brent Grimes to cramps when Tom Brady was throwing to win the game.

5. Ryan Tannehill out-shot Tom Brady, as I wrote in my column today. He now has 23 TD passes on the season - and only one quarterback has thrown for more. Of course, Dan Marino threw for more most years. But the big point, as I wrote in my column today, is you see the development of a franchise quarterback in Tannehill. That’s the takeaway from this month, the one the hopes of this team build on.

I'll be the host of the 10-noon show on 640-AM this week. Today's guests include NFL.com's Jeff Darlington and the Boston Globe's Ben Volin to talk about Sunday's Dolphins-Patriots game.You can click here to listen to the show.